Fighting tumors with tumors

Researchers at The Rogosin Institute have used cancer cell-containing agarose beads to inhibit tumor proliferation in animals.¹ Although the strategy sounds counterintuitive, the macrobeads already are in an investigator-sponsored Phase II trial in patients with pancreatic cancer, advanced colorectal cancer or refractory prostate cancer.

Previous work had shown that the growth of solid tumors is characterized by progressive slowing of the rate of growth as the tumor increases in size, suggesting that growth might be inhibited by molecules signaling the presence of tumor mass.^2,3...